One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, “My dear child, why are you crying?”The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family.

The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden thimble set with pearls.

“Is this your thimble?” the Lord asked
The seamstress replied, “No.”

The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a silver
thimble ringed with sapphires.

The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble.
“Is this your thimble?” the Lord asked.

The seamstress replied, “Yes.”

The Lord was pleased with the woman’s honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy.

Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water.

When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, “Why are you crying?”

“Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!”

The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney.

“Is this your husband?” the Lord asked.
“Yes,” cried the seamstress.

The Lord was furious. “You lied! That is an untruth!”

The seamstress replied, “Oh, forgive me, my Lord It is
a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said ‘no’ to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt. Then if I said ‘no’ to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said ‘yes,’ you would have given me all three. Lord, I’m not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT’S why I said ‘yes’ to George Clooney.

And so the Lord let her keep him.

The moral of this story is: Whenever a woman lies, it’s for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others.

That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.

Signed,
All Us Women

Ya Haqq!

PS My sister sent me this story. She has a wonderful and understanding husband :) Please feel free to repost it, and change the men’s names to anyone you wish.

When the Sufi Master Shaqiq-e Balkhi was on the pilgrimage to Mecca, he had reached Baghdad when the Sultan, Harun al-Rashid, sent for him.

“Counsel me,” Harun commanded.

“Then attend,” Shaqiq proceeded. “Almighty God has set you in the place of Abu Bakr the Trusty, and requires trustiness from you as from him. He has set you in the place of Omar the Discriminator, and requires from you as from him discrimination between truth and falsehood. He has set you in the place of Othman of the Two Lights, and requires of you as from him modesty and nobility. He has set you in the place of Ali the Well-Approved, and requires from you as from him knowledge and justice.”

-From the Memorial of the Saints by Attar

Alhamdulillah! Those who lead nations are slaves of God and servants to their people, and if they fear God’s judgement, they rule with trustworthiness, discrimination, modesty, nobility, knowledge and justice. If such leaders become tyrants and corrupt, better for them if they had never been born.

“He who has spent a complete day without causing harm to anyone else, has spent his day with the Prophet (pbuh); were he to do harm to one person, Allah (swt) will not accept any of the prayers he has offered that day.”

The excellent Sufi resource and blog, Sufi News and Sufism World Report, has republished an interview with this darvish on the craft of writing in general, and on writing Master of the Jinn: A Sufi Novel in particular. You can read the interview by clicking here.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, ‘My Cherisher has ordered me nine things: (1) To reverence Him, externally and internally; (2) to speak true, and with propriety, in prosperity and adversity; (3) moderation in affluence and poverty; (4) to benefit my relations and kindred who do not benefit me; (5) to give alms to him who refuses me; (6) to forgive him who injures me; (7) that my silence should be in attaining knowledge of God; (8) that when I speak, I should mention Him; (9) that when I look on God’s creatures, it should be as an example for them.’

Alhamdulillah, that our Cherisher has sent us such an example to follow.

O Thou who art above all imaginations, conjectures, opinions and ideas, above anything people have said or we have heard or read. The assembly is finished and life has reached its term, and we have, as at first, remained powerless in describing Thee.

From the Gulistan (Rose Garden) of Shaykh Muslih-uddin Sa’di Shirazi

Alhamdulillah! All praise is Thine alone, ineffable, indescribable, beyond thought and form, without direction or place or time. Thy attributes are manifest in Thy signs, on the horizons and in ourselves. In remembrance of Thee is our joy, gratitude toward Thee our daily bread, loving Thee our only purpose.